Page 228 - TheHopiIndians

220 MESA FOLK OP HOPILAND

elements of his character, and by these he succeeded,
whether as a farmer as as Snake Priest, and took
his high position among his people. There is an in
teresting mingling of the old and new at Walpi.
Kopeli became a typical . example of the union of
past and present. Wiki, his Nestor, was in every
fiber imbued with the usages and traditions of the
past. One instinctively admires the old man's firm
belief, and his respect* for the ancient ceremonies.
The leaven of the new was in Kopeli, as may be seen
from the following. A wide-awake town in New Mex
ico wanted the Hopi Snake Dance reproduced at the
fair held there in the autumn, realizing that it would
be a feature to attract many visitors. Kopeli was ap
proached and offered what seemed to him a large
sum of money for the performance. Though in some
doubt as to the care and transportation of the snakes,
Kopeli and the younger snake priests were tempted
to favor the scheme, through his avaricious father,
Supela. When Wiki, chief of the related society of the
Antelopes, heard the proposal, he became very angry
and put his foot down, reading the young men of lax
morals a severe lecture on their duties to their re
ligion.
Even had this plan been carried out and had proved
a death blow to the so-called pagan and heathenish
rites of the Hopi, one would have regretted Kopeli 's
share in it. It is well known, too, that, at present,
money will admit strangers to view the sacred rites